Smellyann Strikes Again

Already Falling Behind

Whoops, I'm a day behind already and we've only been back since Monday!

Wednesday was a busy one for me. We got up pretty early for us on a Wednesday morning (8:30 ish) and had breakfast. Afterward, since Barbara was coming, we had to do some cleaning up. Not a terrible amount, since Stephanie did an awesome job of keeping the place neat while we were gone, but we had gotten some toys out and had a lot to put away still from the trip. The kids were a great help. When they are in the mood to clean up, you can't beat them! When they are not in the mood, you want to! Hehe, kidding of course.

Barbara came while I was still downstairs in my nighty, picking things up, so we said our hellos and how-do-you-dos, and then I high-tailed it up into a shower. Oh, the cool water felt so good. I love a cold shower in the summer, especially after working up a sweat doing some cleaning or something. Do you? Am I the only one? My husband HATES them and will take the hottest shower possible, no matter how hot he already is.

So after my shower, I unpacked my suitcases and put them away, piddled around doing a few more things so she could clean in there, and left.  The kids love going for rides in the car, so I planned several errands for Barbara Day.

First stop: New glasses for Chloë! The day we left for Spain (hi, my trip is over and I'm still excited about it), I had taken her to For Eyes to pick them up. Well, guess what? They were the wrong effing prescription!  Someone had put minuses where there should have been plusses, and my girl said, "Uh, these are not the glasses I ordered. I can't see a thing!" What?! Sure enough, when the tech checked them, they were for near-sighted folks and not my extremely far-sighted little darling. So, anyway, they never called Stephanie in our absence, and she was still wearing the old-old glasses (the old glasses broke) of yore.

[I'd show you a really cute picture of her in her glasses, because I think they look just DARLING on her, but now I can't upload pictures to the computer from my camera at all. Freaking technology!! I finally get Typepad settled down, by switching to Firefox instead of IE once again, and now the computer doesn't recognize that there are pictures on my camera to upload. Thankfully the Europe ones worked, but now I have to settle that mess. Another pictureless blog for you, sorry!]

After that, we headed to the library, to bring back the last book before it was due the following day. I don't relish paying those kinds of fees at all. Well, any fees, come to think of it, but certainly not something totally avoidable. Anyway, I let Chloë out at the curb so she could put her book in the drop box, a new 'chore' she loves to do. I also recently started letting her cross the street by herself, to put out the outgoing mail, and I know she feels so grown up doing it!

Meanwhile, there are kids younger than her doing far more adventurous things on their own, but ours is a busy street, and what can I say? I don't like the idea of a squashed Chloë.

The babies started yammering about being hungry (always wanting to be fed, that lot), so before I knew what was happening, Vanna started turning away from the grocery store and toward our favorite Barbara Day locale: Panera. Oh, Panera, how I missed you during our fortnight away!  Lunch was good, very, very good, and the kids ate all their food. Love that!

A silly old goose of a lady stopped by our table and said, "Look at all your children! They're all yours? Did they all come at the same time?" I just smirked and said "no," but Chloë felt the need to be more informative: "I'm six and a half. I'm the oldest. He's five, and she's three. And he had a twin brother, but he died." The lady looked at me, made a face, shrugged, and walked away, saying, "How nice." I had to laugh, before I turned to Chloë and, yet again, explained that we don't need to tell Every. Single. Person. that we meet about Robby. "But why?" she asked. I blurted out, "Because it's none of their damn business!" And you know what? It's not.

But I know I'll be explaining that one for a while.

I had planned to go grocery shopping, to get a few things in the house that we needed and in preparation for Bunco, but Jack was rubbing his eyes at the table. His father called to check in, and when I asked him if he'd mind going to the store for me when he got home, because his son was tired and needed a nap, Jack snapped, "I'm NOT tired!!"

In the car, five minutes later, he was sound asleep and snoring his little sweet snore.

So we drove home, where I chided the kids as usual for walking on my freshly-cleaned carpet with their shoes on, and settled the kids down for naps. They all must have been tired, because I didn't hear a peep out of them. Zonk.

I would have liked to nap myself, but it was time to set up for Bunco! It took me about 15 minutes, but I finally lugged the big-ass treadmill out of the middle of the room, to the side by the back door. I opened the two new packages of card table and chairs, setting one up on the living room and the other in the office. I took all the booster seats off the kitchen chairs, and set out the Bunco dice, pencils, and bell. Ready! Now I just needed that food.

I was hoping people would be late as usual to Bunco, but every single person showed up right on time! Gah! I was still rushing around, making the vodka punch for Drunko Bunko, and putting out the dishes and forks and server-ware stuff, while the house was filling up with food. I have decided, since we're not leaving this area, at least we need to buy a bigger house so I can properly host Bunco. There just is not a lot of room here!

No? You don't think so? Well, at least I have managed to talk my husband into new carpets. Ours are SHOT. Maybe we'll go for wood floors, though. We'll see. And kitchen appliances are next on the list. Ours SUUUUCK.

Anyway, Bunco was a lot of fun. If you remember my blogging about hosting it last September, I was a nervous wreck!!  This time was so different. I didn't have time to stress about it, Barbara had cleaned the place up, and there was just one issue: the litter box. Ugh. It was full to bursting after two weeks away, and though I emptied it, the smell lingered on. Even my new Oust Air & Surface cleaner didn't take the stench away, dagnabbit, and I found out from Stephanie that they were talking about it during Bunco! Ahhhh! How embarassing. I sent out an email after Bunco, apologizing to everyone about it!

I had bought enough Bunco prizes in Europe for everyone to go away with something. Usually, there are seven prizes, to split amongst 12 people. I bought extras, a little from Spain, some from France, from Italy, from Greece, and from Croatia, so that each person would get something. They loved this idea! They all oohed and ahhed as I brought the items out of the bag where I'd hidden them, and when I asked 15 times if they liked the prizes, they all assured me that they did. Stephanie won top prize, so she picked out a coconut necklace from Nice and a leather-and-beads bracelet from Croatia. Looks great on her, with her coloring, too! (Yes, I actually bought something leather. I know!)

Oh. Drunko Bunko: Steph and I had made prior arrangements to get completely smashed and have her spend the night. I was buzzed early on, but I get red-faced and sweaty when I drink, so I decided to save my drinking for the private post-party.  Stephanie, not so much. She was HAMMERED. And hilarious. We were all laughing at her, and she was laughing at herself. (Now that you know she won first prize, you can see how little skill this game requires!) When everyone left, she insisted on pouring me some more punch. Spiked with the Limoncello from Sicily. Ahh, good stuff. I was toast shortly afterward.  I haven't been that way since I turned 21 ten years ago, and we had a good time, just laaaaughing and laaaaaughing and being silly and raunchy. Rob joined in on the party - not the drinking, just the funning - and the three of us giggled ourselves into oblivion. I have a few funny pictures, but again, I can't show them tonight!

Soon enough, we were passed out on our respective couches, and Rob went upstairs to bed. When he got up at 0400 for work, Steph woke up and texted him that the shower and my snoring were keeping her awake! So he ushered her upstairs to our bed, where she spent the rest of the night.

This morning, I woke up first, when Sophia and Jack got right in my face singing, "Good morning, Mommy, we're hungry!!" Chloë joined shortly afterward, and then Steph made her way down. We had a very unhealthy breakfast of Bunco leftovers, and then we sat at the new card table in the office and made a stickers-and-foam Christmas craft that my MIL had sent months ago (obviously) for project time. I have pictures of this, too, but alas...  We all helped, and it came together quickly. The kids did a really good job, even though Jack threw in the towel early to go play with cars.

After that it was lunch time, and I think I made five different things for lunch. But no matter. Everyone ate something healthy, and their bellies were filled. Time to go to the pool! We suited up the kids and sprayed them down with sunscreen, before getting ready ourselves. Of course, we neglected to use SPF on our own bodies, and that was our fatal mistake.

Man, after two weeks in the Mediterranean and no burn (and no sunscreen then, either, because I am apparently stupid), it was pretty annoying to get such a bad burn today after ONE HOUR at the pool on an overcast day!  Just goes to show you, you can never be too careful or sure where the sun is going to get you. But I am fried, and Steph got herself a nice sunburn, too, for the sixth time in her life. A couple of dumb bunnies we are!

Fortunately, the kids were unharmed. Sophie did get a little color, but Sophie always gets a little color. She tans, though - and yes, I know, even a tan is a sign of sun damage. But it's far better than a burn, especially on one so small.

Anyway, we came home, gave the kiddies a snack, and sent them down for much-needed naps. Again, they were quite worn out and didn't make a peep! Stephanie left then, and I tried a dozen times more to post on the European blog, with no success. But if you'll check, I have finished posting about Day One now, so go read!

Argh, I'm yawning my head off, so it's time to cut this pictureless saga short. Long? Not much happened the rest of the day, anyway, other than my getting the chills so bad that Rob had to lay on top of me to get me warm. I'm better now, and tomorrow is another day.

Fin.

Keepin' It Low-Key

First, a whine: I hurt my hand!! I don't what I did to it but it feels all twisted and tight and... hurty. Actually, I tend to sleep with my hand tucked under me when I snooze on the couch, and I think I did it then. But, owie! I hope the kinks work out in my sleep tonight so that I am free to do all kinds of crazy things with my hands when we're wrangling 50 bajillion suitcases at the airport tomorrow.

TOMORROW! Yeeee! By this time tomorrow, we'll be thousands of feet high over the Atlantic Ocean, taking an overnight flight to Barcelona from Atlanta. I don't know how, but I managed to get some sleep last night. I don't know how I'll ever manage that tonight!

So today, I'm sure you thought I was plenty busy, running around like a crazy lady, getting things done.

Ha.

Ha!

Not me.

I did that this weekend. The jobs are mostly done, except for the toiletries that I still need to pack after my shower tomorrow, and shoes! Oh, don't forget the shoes... and make-up. I still haven't decided if I am going to wear any make-up in Europe. It's just soooo frigging hot, y'all, and when you're fat like me, I swear, you feel it double. And that makes my face sweaty. And that makes my make-up goo up and slide down. You know? I may just take a little to wear to dinner and then whisk right off before we ... well, who knows what we'll do, of an evening, on a ship?

So instead of doing any mad dashing around today, and instead of taking on any projects with the kids, we mostly sat around, watched TV, read stories, and cuddled. Who knows, this may have been the last day I ever spend with my children, and I wanted to soak them up. But let's not talk like that... this is a happy time, not a sad, scary one!

I sent Chloë into the backyard with my camera, to snap some pictures of the wonderful lilies, and Rob's tree, growing in a corner there. Here are a couple:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'd all gotten up around 0800, so by noon, we were all ready to crash. They had lunch, and were kissing me and going upstairs before I even sent them. Those are the days it's clear to me they still need their daily rest.

And I crashed, so hard, under my beloved new stripey blanket, on the couch. Oh, I love that blanket. Every night, when Rob is near me, I sit under that blanket and extoll its virtues. It just feels so good!!

When I woke up, it was just in time to get into the shower and get ready to go to my appointment at the nail salon. I was getting my first-ever pedicure, and a fill for my acrylics, and I had two nails that fell off and were in need of repair.

I tell ya, these things require some upkeep, and I may be a high-maintenance girl in some regards, but that's not one of them. I still haven't decided whether they're coming off when we get back, but for sure they're going to go shorter, at least.

Anyway, so I went.

Oh, the pedicure was nice. I wasn't at all squeamish about it, like I thought I'd be. Two funnyish things happened during it:

1. If you've spent a lot of time in the ocean, like I have, you know that sometimes, things brush up against your legs when you're not expecting it. And no matter how much you might know about the things in the ocean, this still probably tends to make you  jump up and squeal. Well, my feet were soaking in the foot bath, one at a time, while she worked on the other. And once, while I was in the middle of crocheting on the baby dress for Stephanie and completely zoned out, something brushed up against me. I jumped and squealed, as if I had been standing in the dang ocean!! Everyone stared at me. Turns out, she'd left a foot brush in the water, and it was floating around. Hi, I'm embarrassed, go back to your magazines now...
2. The chairs were like massage chairs, and they moved forward and back, reclined and upright. There was a remote control for doing so on my right armrest. Well, I was in kind of an uncomfortable, squinched up position, so after she adjusted my chair and went to work on my feet, I tried moving it back and reclining it. She reached over and moved it more forward and upright than it had been before! Every time she would stop and start chattering to the other ladies in Vietnamese, I would tap-tap-tap quietly on the buttons, inching my way back again. And each time, she would come back and move me forward. This went on about three or four times before I gave up. She never said a word to me about it.

We did talk, though. I hate hiring someone to do something for me (wash my feet, cut my hair, clean my house) and then acting like they are not there. [Although, now that I think about it, I am usually silent during hair cuts, because I'm reveling in the feeling of not hearing "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! I'm hungry! I want a snack! I want some milk! I want a toy!" for that hour or so.] It's demeaning, isn't it? You pay someone for a service, but they are still human beings like everyone else, and you should acknowledge them. I know some people like to act like service people are invisible, but I am not one of them.

So anyway, Mimi and I talked about crocheting and knitting, and my children and hers, and it was very pleasant. She knows how to knit and not crochet, so we teased that she would give me free pedicures and I would teach her how to crochet. Hey, I'm all for it. I doubt it will work that way, though. Ours is not really a bartering society!

When it was done, I had 10 cute little bright red piggy toes and heavily lotioned legs and feet. I slipped on the disposable flip-flops and crossed the hall for my manicure with Amy.   We talked about my trip, and about their family-run shop, and her childhood in Viet Nam. She wished me a good journey and a happy Fourth, and I said the same... without thinking. Maybe they do celebrate it, I don't know? When in Rome...

I got back into my van, where the 'low fuel' light was flashing angrily at me. All right, all right... I went and filled 'er up again. $78, and I hadn't even reached 300 miles this tank. Sad. I really wish there were a hybrid minivan. I'd snap one up in a heartbeat.

Back at home, Rob was making Schwan's Cheesy Enchiladas for dinner, and singing a little song about them. I wish I could remember it; it was amusing. But then, he often is. Don't tell him I said that, though. I have tried to convince him he's not funny for years now.

We ate, and behold, it was good. That's one we'll order again.  A bit on the spicy side, but manageable for me. I'm not one for spicy. I just can't handle it Pain on your tongue is fun? I don't get that.

ETA: Here's what Rob does when he finds a piece of rubber cement lying around:

I went outside, back to the van, to search high and low for the pool passes, so Steph can take the Odettelettes whenever she wants. I had left them in the car on Friday after we swam, I was sure of it! But they were not there. Stink. Just as I was convincing myself that the van repair people, where Rob took my van to be inspected and repaired on Saturday, had stolen them, I walked back in the house and spotted them immediately on the shelf by the front door, where I pretty much always keep them during the pool-heavy summer days. Duh! So much for that wonderful system.

Chloë and I did a bit (a very little bit, sorry Steph) of cleaning in the office, and I cleaned out the litter box so Her Highness would have fresh clay on which to poop, and then Rob set up the vacuum cleaner outside for me on an extension cord. We'd never cleaned out the van as planned, and looking for the pool passes made it clear how necessary it was before handing over the reigns to Miss Stephanie. How much I sucked up out there! It was so dark, so I probably missed a lot, but I know I got lots of goldfish crumbs, cereal, and whatever else I let my kids eat in the car for the past five years. So much better.

And here I am, indecisive about whether to try and go to sleep, or to go up and finish the little bit of packing I can do before tomorrow. Or fart around on the computer some more, oblivious of the few hours left before we get on that big ol' plane...

Fart it is.

Fin.

Something Pressing To Do

Foiled again.

I tried to be good. I went to bed much earlier than usual last night, so I could get up early with the kids, go do my errands, and then take them to the pool until Daddy got home. We haven't swum since the end of May, so we're due for a pool visit.

Instead, I was up at 0600 with an upset stomach, and I was shivering and feeling awful. When it was all over, I went downstairs to rest on the couch until they got up. Only, I fell back to sleep. And it was late morning before I woke up again.

Dammit.

Oh, well. No sense berating myself for it; what's done is done.

I just love Chloë's profile, especially when her glasses are missing and I can see it.

I got right up with the kids and we sprang to work in the kitchen, assembling our ingredients, preheating our oven and preparing ourselves to bake chocolate chip banana bread.

First, Sophia mashed up our three extremely overripe nanners.

Next, Chloë whisked in a few eggs.

Jack dumped in the shortening, and Chloë added the sugar.

Sophia mixed it all up, after adding the vanilla.

They added the rest of the ingredients, and Chloë mixed it all up.

Voilà! The kids dumped it into the pan {note to self: really must buy loaf pans!}, and their very own chocolate chip banana bread was ready to go into the oven!

During the 75-minutes baking time, Jack played downstairs with his cars, and the sisters took turns perched atop the fainting couch and sliding down it. Then they all took turns cuddling in my arms and singing lullabyes with me. Sophia didn't know many of the words, but she sung along anyway. This caused mucho hysterics on my part, and she laughed as hard as I did. It was a fun time.

It's ready!

Jack was the first lucky boy to dig in, once it cooled enough. He gave it his stamp of approval and demanded some margarine.

Any chance to show off the Fiestaware...

Daddy came home just as we were starting to dig in, so he enjoyed his piece, too. Then we showered and got ready to go out. We'd gotten some really good Moe's (Welcome to Moe's!) coupons, and Chloë was asking to go for her special dance recital dinner, so I looked up online to see if there was a Moe's mystery shop available. There was! Score.

Dinner was great, even though there were still no tomatoes for salsa, and even though the smoke from the North Carolina wildfires was too overpowering to let us sit outside. They way overstuffed our burritos with yummy good stuff.

Jack didn't want to eat his quesadillas. Just chips. Nope, not this time. I told him if he didn't take at least one good bite of his quesa, he was going right to bed when we got home.

Guess who went right to bed when he got home?

That's right, it didn't work. He didn't eat. He cried a whole bunch about going to bed, though. Oh, well! One thing I'm adamant about is following through; no empty threats here!

Once home, I sat outside in the nice evening air and called my father in Ohio. I never did reach him for Father's Day. He's doing well up there, just getting used to life there as opposed to South Carolina. It was good to hear from him.

Rob snapped this picture of Sophia once again up on her perch. She was also reaching back behind herself and licking her foot. Girlfriend is mighty flexible, which is why I'm going to go with the majority from the poll and put her in gymnastics this fall! I did manage to call and get the details from them about that; it's comparable in cost to dance class, and she can start anytime since it's a year-round program. Should be fun! Thanks for the help!

Stephanie soon joined us to have some cheesecake, again in celebration of Chloë's dance recital. It was supposed to be Friendly's, but we had all these Schwan's desserts already and decided to save our moulah. It was pretty good!  (The slices are bigger than theirs, which I'd cut in half for them to share.) I should have made some strawberres because I'm God, to put on top.

After dessert, Rob took the girls upstairs to bathe and get ready for bed, while Stephanie and I drove to Walgreen's so I could pick up my prescriptions. We got there, though, and I realized I'd forgotten my checkbook at home! Gah!

So we drove home, picked that up, and ran to Farm Fresh. I'm out of salt and wipey-wipes, and she needed chicken and rice for her poor sick doggies.  Then we went back to Walgreen's. Now I'm stocked up on my drugs for the cruise. Another item crossed off my list. Whee!

She soon said goodbye, and I decided to start back in on sewing Chloë's blue dress. It was not off to an auspicious start, however, when I couldn't even thread the darn needled and had to call in the troops for support. Took Rob a while, too, but he finally got it after cutting that fat yarn at an angle. So I was on my way to press some seams when I realized it was time to post my nightly blahg entry.

Time to get back to my ironing. Oh, how I toil.

Fin.

If My Dog Were Liquid

Okay, y'all didn't vote in the poll! There are only two votes, and one's mine, and one's Stephanie's. Y'all need to give me your input on this; I know there are more of you out there than that! ;)

So today, I had a whole heckuva lot more on my to-do list than there was actually time to accomplish. Perhaps tomorrow.

I tried to call for referrals to an allergist and a neurologist, but there was no answer after 20-odd rings at my clinic. Humph.

I called the cocky SOB who was going to paint our house, to see if he had a contractor's license or anything, and he does not. So I gave him the boot. Didn't like him, don't want to give him our business.

I did manage to (finally) make Sophia's 3-year well-child appointment. It'll be the day after we get back from Europe. No rest for the weary... traveler.

Tried calling the gymnastics place to at least get the deets for their 3yo program, but there was no answer. Yet another $#%(*& place that's closed on Mondays!!

Never made it to the bank to cash out our trip account and get some traveler's cheques. Never made it to the base to fill my scripts so I'll have enough meds for Europe.

Couldn't remember the name of the karate place, to get the deets for their 5yo program. Five years we've lived here, five years that we've been going to the same grocery store right next to the karate place. You'd think it would have sunk in by now.

Didn't do any sewing. Didn't have the desire today, after toiling on the floor with my fabric all laid out yesterday, cutting the huge pieces for Chloë's dress. But maybe I'll go do some after this.

Didn't crochet, either. No time. And we didn't bake.  I planned to make a new cookie recipe, from my Martha Stewart cookie book, with the kids... but we're out of flour and darn near out of butter. And dog food, not that that would make for great cookies. I sent Rob to the store for those three things tonight. He just got back. At least I cut out the coupons from yesterday's paper.

Oh, and I folded five loads of laundry and washed two more. I'm trying to really keep on top of it so there isn't a ton to do before our trip, and all my clothes will be clean.

After I folded all that, the Littles went down for nap, Chloë went downstairs to get ready and then play on Webkinz (finally, she knows how to log in by herself!), and I took a shower. I was going to do my make-up and, you know, try and look decent, but my face was so blustery and hot after I blow-dried my hair that it would have just slid right off. So I went nakey-faced. As usual. Oh, well. I wear glasses, anyway.

I didn't even really dress up for the Show. I'm wearing jean capris and a red polo shirt. Rob wore a polo and some khakis, but when we were walking in downtown Norfolk before the show, he noticed what I wore and cursed himself for not wearing shorts, too. Ha, ha. Sucka. I wasn't underdressed, though. Lots of folks wore dressy things, but plenty others went casual.

We forgot to take Chloë's earrings out when we dropped her off, and now they are gone. I am disappointed, because they were the little pink flowers with which she got pierced, and they were my favorites. Live and learn.

After she was backstage and taken under the instructors' wings, I drove around the corner to the market so Rob could run in and buy her flowers. We found a place to park nearby (there was a garage right there the whole time! Who knew?!) and then went to our favorite sushi place in the world, Domo.  We discovered it a few years ago when we went downtown for a Steven Wright concert. The food is out-of-this-world fresh, and so tasty. The service is good, too. If you're ever in Norfolk and like sushi, go!

Finally, it was time to get back across the street to the Roper and get ourselves seated. I was bemoaning having camnesia, so I wouldn't be able to get a backstage picture of Chloë and her teacher this year. So, I taught Rob how to use my phone's camera. Wouldn't you know, when he went around the block to get her at half-time intermission, he took a picture of her with her flowers, but no Miss Ashley! Just completely forgot!

The Show was great. Darlene did her usual introduction of all the graduating seniors, and for no reason at all, I found myself in tears. It's not like I know any of those girls! I guess it was just reminiscent of my years as a dancer. I just imagined my little Chloë, starting off at the age of three and, finally, still doing dance, graduating from high school. Imagine!

There were some pretty risqué moves going tonight, especially for some of the younger girls. Lyrics, too. I bet a few tongues were wagging!

There was one girl in at least four numbers on that stage tonight, who is every bit as heavy as I am, if not more. Rob can vouch. We talked about her afterward, in wonderment. She wasn't even good! I mean, I wasn't anywhere near that big when I danced, not at all, but I did the moves and then some. She barely tried. At what point does a parent look at that and say, We're wasting our money, let's get her into something else? I felt embarrassed for her. She just did not look good up there, nor did she look particularly enthused. Oh, well. Not my problem.

What is my problem: my own children's health. I can say, with a high degree of certainty, that I will never let them get that way as long as they are under my roof. Not that there's any danger of that anytime soon, but if one of them ballooned up, we'd do something about it, and pronto. (In a loving, we-want-you-to-be-healthy kind of way, not, ew, you fat freak, go to camp and lose it!) (I can say this all, because it takes one to know one.)

I looked at the lithe, flat-chested bodies of the 'serious' dancers, and wondered what my Chlo and Soap will look like at that age. Will they be like me? Will they be like their Dad? One of each? I think it's safe to say Chloë will be a skinny thing, and Sophia will be a bit more on the curvy side.

When we'd collected our Chloë, we sat back and watched the second half through her eyes. She wriggled and shimmied in her chair, copying the older girls. She clapped loud and tried to "wooo wooo" along with the appreciative audience. When I giggled, she looked up at me pointedly and said, "What!"

Normally, it's our tradition to go out for sundaes (again, stemming from my dancing days) after the recital, but it was 2200 when we got out of there! The Littles were put to bed by Stephanie, and we agreed to do it tomorrow, with Stim. Friendly's, here we come!

Hey, look, I found a picture of me when I danced - see, not so chubby (click to see it big):

Fin.

Day O' Beauty

Welp, I stayed up 'til 0500 attempting to sew three pairs of matchy-matchy shorts. Finally around 0200, I woke Rob up from the couch where he was snoozing, because I was absolutely losing my mind trying to follow the damn pattern. I stitched, unstitched, and restitched countless times, and it Just. Wasn't. Working. I emailed an exasperated message to MIL, who was probably throwing her hands up at my density from afar!  But Rob, my professional seamstress husband, couldn't figure it out either.

We spent over an hour ransacking the internet for something that would help us put together a simple pair of kids' shorts. We knew what to do. We had the pictures. We had the diagrams. We had the pithy instructions. We just didn't have the know-how.

Finally, I decided to make a teeny-tiny doll-sized pattern of the shorts. I freehand drew on some scrap fabric with a pencil and came up with a reasonable facsimile of the actual pattern pieces, minus the pockets. Screw the pockets! I started fiddling around with the pieces when it became absolutely clear: it was physically impossible to make the shorts the way the directions were written.  It just couldn't be done!

So I did to the pieces what it made sense to me to do, after reviewing instructions from MIL, Rob, and way, way back 20 years in home-ec class, and it worked! I made this wee pair of shorts that, incidentally, fit perfectly on my husband's schlong (yes, he tried them on "it," because that's just the way we are and just be glad I spared you the picture):

Of course, no hems.

So within an hour, I had stitched together two identically-sized pairs of shorts for the non-twins and was debating what to do about Chloë's! Of course, we were quite pleased to finally have a resolution after hours of feeling like the dumbest people on Earth. It's not a feeling to which we were accustomed!

By that point, though, I was too tired to take out hundreds of small stitches, so I gave up and joined Rob on the couch for a few hours' sleep.

When I woke up, Jack was sitting next to me, and Chloë and Rob were gone to her audition for a NY agent. It was a no-pressure try-out, since she already has a New York agent. She just needs the practice.

I was just getting into the shower when they returned. Apparently the woman told Chloë she did a good job and was going to be famous! We shall see about that...

I left the house with instructions for Rob to give Jack these clothes and Sophia those clothes and take some pictures outside of them in their non-twin-set. The shirts are enormous; I'd bought a bunch of the smallest size they had at Michael's when they were 6/$10, with no real purpose in mind.

So, yeah, though the waistbands fit, they are still kind of swimming in the shorts. That's okay, they'll have them a few years.

Sophia loved her outfit and wore it all day long, but Jack couldn't wait to peel it off and get back into his beloved blue outfit he'd picked out for the day. He wants what he wants and he wants it now!

What do you think? I know, they are not exactly stylin', but I did the thing, anyway.

So my appointment was at my salon, where I was to get my most expensive 'do ever.  Normally I'm pretty cheap about taking care of my hair, although I would rather pay more for a decent cut, but I've always colored it myself at home. Not this time! I wanted something good for Europe.

Well, I was there almost three hours, and I wish I could tell you all the observations I made while there. I had good blog fodder, but now  I've forgotten it! Other than this: the woman in the chair next to me mentioned that she homeschools her children. But she was using the word "retarded" repeatedly in conversation, either blissfully unaware or not caring that it has become a major faux pas to do so in today's society. Is that really the sort you want educating their own young? Not for me. They are talking about it being illegal to homeschool unless you at least have a college degree, and I can't say that's the worst idea I've ever heard...

But enough about that; I know such an opinion will be controversial amongst my readers!

So after I was tortured pampered for so long, I went up front to pay my bill. I was so stunned by the cost (but of course, I didn't show it) that I forgot to buy the shampoo I needed. All I could think at the time was, Gee, I feel like the President or something...

But I did like the cut and color. See? I decided to go a little lighter, you know, for summer? I think it looks lighter IRL than in the picture. And ignore the silly look on my face; I was being goofy for Rob.

Afterward, I moseyed a few doors down to the ceramics studio, thinking it might be a good place to take the kids this summer, especially on a Monday when the pool is closed. Well, instead of answering my questions, the proprietor just handed me a sheet of paper, saying, "I think this will tell you everything you need to know." Not hardly! How exasperating. Can't you just have a conversation with me?? NO ONE else was in the store, after all. And come to find out, they are closed on Mondays, too. Ugh!

I called Rob to see how he and the chillens were doing, asking permission to go get my nail fixed. That's right, the superglue didn't hold and it fell off again that evening. Very annoying. Permission was granted, so I headed on over to that salon. I walked in and they were packed. Of course, Saturday afternoon! I was embarrassed to find myself flipping those fine ladies off when telling them the problem - it was my middle finger, after all! But they seemed to take no notice and told me to have a seat. It was another hour before I was finished, but I finally walked out, free of charge, good as new.

I was famished by then, since it was after 1600 and I hadn't eaten yet today. I called Rob to see if he wanted a sub or not, and he did, so I went in. The tomatoes were back on the menu, and I asked the guy if they were okay now. Duh, of course he was going to say yes, they put them out. But I'd been in a couple of days ago when signs were up that they weren't going to be serving them, so I figured if they had them, they were all right, right?

Rob was in the middle of eating his sub (his were the tomatoes; I don't eat them) when I got an urgent email about the Moe's shop (Welcome to Moe's!) I'm going to be doing this week, saying there must be no tomatoes behind the counter, yadda yadda. Were they safe after all? Rob did a little research online and finally decided to go ahead and eat them. Cross your fingers he doesn't get sick!

When I got home, after eating, I got back to work at the sewing machine. I finally decided, instead of ripping out all those stitches, to just cut the pieces apart and have the shorts be smaller and, probably, fit better. I had the shorts done in about 20 minutes, just in time for Chloë to wake up from her nap and try them on.

I know, this is a ridiculous, hideous picture. We'd just given her her allowance, so she decided to pose with that, and her stance makes the shorts look all bunchy. But she was thrilled with them and decided to keep them on for the rest of the night. I love that my girls love their handmade clothes so much, regardless of how well they're made.

And yes, I continue to make stupid goofs. I have a hem on the outside of Chloë's freaking shorts!!! By that point, I just didn't care anymore, since it was obvious these were going to be relegated to the 'playclothes' category.

And I immediately started (I want to say 'casting on,' but alas, this isn't knitting and the term doesn't apply) cutting out the pattern for one of the matching dresses I'm going to make the girls (in the blue, if you remember it) - and I totally forgot to cut out the notches on the first piece of fabric! Gahhhh!! What is wrong with me? I swear, sewing turns me into a bumbling idiot.

But I'm still enoying it! I bet Rob can't wait until I go back to my hobbies where I'm not constantly calling upon him for help.

Jack came down, wanting a snack, so he and Chlo were given an ice cream sandwich. We have tons of Schwan's ice cream in the freezer right now, and it's delicious! We've also tried the spinach artichoke appetizers and the cream cheese wontons, and we liked them very much, too. Just giving you a little update on how that's going, for those who were interested!

Edit to add: I got the book My Sister's Keeper in the mail today, a surprise from my MIL after talking about it but my not being able to find it at the library. Yay! I can't wait to read it; seems like I'm the last person I know who has. But I'm resisting the urge to stay up all night reading it. I'm going to save it for the cruise - well, the flights, anyway. Don't spoil it for me!

After dinner (frozen pizza, if you must know), it was story time for the kids. We read... oh, what is it called. That Enchanted Princess movie that came out a while ago, with Patrick Dempsey? But in book form. I so hate the children's books that are written after the movie. They are always so lame, and they skip so much anyway, it doesn't make sense unless you've seen the movie. But that's what they picked, so that's what they read. Ooh, I forgot to mark it on their sheets, thanks for reminding me. Summer Reading Program, we are still with ya!

The kids went to bed, and then Rob and I settled down to watch The Bucket List while I crocheted on Steph's baby dress. It's comin' along, my dear. And it was a good movie. We laughed, and I cried. Rob gave it a five; I guess I agree and can happily recommend it.

In health news, since you didn't ask, I had a lot of that problem with my eye today. I still feel like something is pressing on my left eyeball, and I couldn't help but think "brain tumor brain tumor brain tumor" whenever I had that sensation. I'm not joking around; two of my friends have actually had brain tumors, so the probability of my having one, too, has got to be slim! Like I said, it just better not strike me down during our cruise.

That's about all, folks. Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there!

Fin.

TenThings About My Day

1. We overslept and missed Chloë's bus this morning. Surprise! So I had to wake everyone up and drive her to school. At least she looked cute in her new outfit from Aunt Gail:

2.  I sewed this head scarf for "Jack," which I say because although it's a one-size-fits-all kids pattern, clearly it's big on Rob:
3.  But at least I followed the directions carefully, and it seems to be right, quality notwithstanding.

4.  I barely slept last night (hence the oversleeping), so I was excited when the kids all wanted naps. I took a long one. Now I hope I can sleep tonight. Vicious fecking cycle.

5.  Our freezer and deep freezer are now stocked to the brim with entrées, appetizers and side dishes, veggies, desserts and ice cream from Schwan's. I'd never ordered from them or eaten their food before, but I thought I'd give it a try after seeing their trucks in our neighborhood so many times. The guy called me up a couple of days ago, wanting to make sure I had enough freezer space for everything I ordered. I assured him I had enough. Heh. There were five ENORMOUS bags full, and I had to do about a half-hour of work rearranging things. In the end, everything fit except the three boxes of frozen pizza I already had, which I put in the fridge for dinner tonight, three packages of frozen pie crusts from Christmas-time, which I freecycled, and a box of microwaveable Monkey Bread, which Sophia and I broke down and had for breakfast.

6. When Rob got home, he cleaned the kitchen, the kids cleaned up their toys, and I vacuumed the downstairs. Looks much better now. Won't last the weekend.

7. I sewed while he cooked that pizza and the kids watched one of their new movies we won. They enjoyed having a pizza picnic in the living room, since my sewing was all over the kitchen table.

8. Think I'm going to work on Steph's baby dress and convince Rob to watch The Bucket List with me. Did you see it?? What did you think of it? We watched The Savages last night, and I thought it was just kind of eh. Mediocre. Although Laura Linney was good and I love Philip Seymour Hoffman.

9. The young man who I asked to come and give me an estimate on fixing up our garden (oh, it is a mess, y'all) came and did so. I nearly fainted. $150 to do a little weeding and pruning? No, thanks. It'll keep until we do it ourselves. He wanted the same to paint our outside trim, which is badly in need. I talked it over with Rob. He finds that acceptable. All right, then.

10. I forgot to make any phone calls today. Didn't call about the discrepancy in Jack's shot record, didn't call to make my appointments, didn't call anyone. I don't even know where my phone is.  Suppose I oughtta go find it...

Fin.

Napping Is Da Bomb

Chloë has started a summer blog! If you'd like the link to her little story site, post to me in the comments!

Thursday, I was granted a reprieve from all the running about. Which is good, because I didn't get much sleep, and I felt awful again. I have decided lately there is a direct relationship between the hours of sleep I get and how good I feel. I managed to get the kids to their buses on time, and since Sophia was so tired from my keeping her up all night to try on the new dress, I decided to take a nap until she woke up. Well, it was almost time for Jack to come home before I heard a peep out of her. Quite a nice little snoozy for moi!

Yes, I ironed the dress, but Sophia jumped and rolled around and climbed and what-have-you in it so much that you couldn't tell anymore, by the time I was able to take the picture.

She was very excited to wear it again. I couldn't find the white buttons I had purchased for it, so I had to go through my stash for one. We decided together on a blue and pink butterfly that goes with the stripey colors. It fits through the loophole, so even though it was much bigger than the prescribed 3/8", it worked for me!

We had this little new-dress photo shoot after dropping Chloë off at her last Brownies meeting of the year. Just one more skating party in a couple of weeks and that's it 'til September!

Rob came home while I was upstairs showering to get ready for our date and putting away all his laundry, which he is unable to do... so I had him go pick up Chloë while I continued working.

She came bounding up the stairs afterward to tell me about the meeting, during which she apparently made a bird feeder. I have yet to see this thing!

By the way, Sophia has learned to roll her 'r's and has been trilling away for the past three days. In a super high pitch! We keep trying to get her to stop, even for a few moments, but she loves it too much. She even trills when she says, for instance, "Dad" or "butterfly," but her favorite thing to say is "iArriba!"

The Littles were having fun on the floor, playing with empty laundry baskets and coming up with names for the games they were playing. Jack would say, "Mom, this is called circus robot game!" or some such. Before long, I lay on my belly on the bed to watch them but instead became their jungle gym. They were climbing onto my back, rolling off, taking turns, and I heard Jack say to Sophia, "Go around the butt. The butt is BIG." LMAO!

While we were getting dressed, Stephanie arrived, and the kids bounded down the stairs to meet her. They love their Steph. She was there because we were going out to dinner. I broke rules and decided to take a couple of Outback Steakhouse shops because they were new and we've never done them before, and I wanted to give them another try. Last time was in Panama City, and I was either newly delivered of Chloë or newly pregnant with the twins, and very hormonal and emotional. I couldn't find anything on the menu that wasn't either beef or mushrooms - two things I will not eat - and I sobbed, and we left. It was most embarrassing.

They have entirely revamped the menu since then! There were lots of things for me to choose from. In the end, we had the spinach artichoke dip for an appetizer (yum), Rob had the tilapia, and I had the grilled shrimp and scallops. No dessert, but then we had to go to the bar for a round of drinks. Rob had a Colorado Bulldog, which I partly suspect he likes to order to stump the bartender as much as for the taste, and I had an 'Aussie Skyy' with vodka and peach stuff and all kinds of tasty good things. Rob didn't like it, but it was right up my alley.

The restaurant was right next to, along with a lot of other really great shops including a knitting one and a sewing one, a Super Kmart, so Rob ran in there to look for water wings while I worked on the report in the car. No luck there, so we drove to the opposite corner of the lot and found a Dollar Tree! Gotta give the DT some love; they had a stack of ads with my baby's picture in them! I grabbed a bunch, if anyone needs or wants one! We found water wings there, and the very same swimsuits our daughter modeled. We ended up buying four new pairs of 6M swim trunks for our, yes, 5yo son, because they were only a dollar and they would probably fit better than the 2Ts he's always having to yank up now.  Then I grabbed a bunch of little-kid socks, since we're always losing them in the laundry.

Back at home, the kids were already in bed. Yes! We had planned on ... *ahem* ... but we both ended up falling asleep on the couch like a coupla old fogies. Oh, well.

Which meant I hadn't set my alarm and totally overslept for the umpteenth time lately. <Insert aggravated face here.>  Actually it wasn't too late this time, but having to get the Littles up to drive her to school when they'd rather be sleeping is annoying. Plus it was Field Day for Chloë, and I didn't want her to miss out on the fun. We remembered her bathing suit and special shirt, but I totally forgot to send her with an ice-cold water bottle. Oh, well, I knew they'd have water sports.

I got Jack on the bus and then Sophia and I sat around, while I tried to figure out what to do with her today. I was going to take her to pick up my new glasses and then go to the fabric and knitting stores from last night, but in walked Daddy about 4+ hours early, and all my plans went by the wayside. Instead, I asked for permission to close my eyes for a minute, and I slept. For much longer than a minute. More like 240 of them!

When I woke up, Rob was napping next to me, Sophia was down for her nap, and the Bigs were quietly playing with (and eating the contents of) the big box of Laffy Taffy Chloë won at school. More about that on her blog!

The mailman brought these little items for CARE Package from a lady who had found out about us from another lady on Ravelry. If you're out there, Cindy, thank you so much!!

In the end, I didn't get my glasses or do anything else, and the audition I was supposed to take Chlo to was rescheduled for tomorrow night. We ordered a pizza for dinner - and cannolis - and sat around watching An Arctic Tale afterward. I tried crocheting on my new top for myself, but again I put it down and fell asleep. I am a sleepy girl this week!  And that pattern is very poorly written. I'm not a fan of novicely-written patterns...

Tomorrow really will be a busy day, so I'm going to go get ready for it.

Fin.

Ah, Food. It's Good You're Back.

I just wanted to share more of the loveliness that is, officially, the "How Deena Got Her Oohs and Ahhs" Blanket from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits. I have finished the triple single-crochet edging and now just have to weave in thousands of ends on the back. Steph, sorry I didn't stick precisely to your color scheme on the edge, but the purple was closer, so it went on the inside! I think I like the turquoise (aka "cayman") better on the edge, since it's more prevalent in the afghan.  Sarri, if you're reading this, I need your collage/mosaic help! I just did this in paint, but how do you do the fine-looking ones you've been doing on your blogs? Help a girl out!

Today was quite active, though I just couldn't shake the sleepiness out and wake fully up until the evening. I way overslept this morning, waking up with just five minutes to go before we had to leave for the bus. I was like a marathon runner's coach, getting Chloë ready: "Come on! Let's go! Go potty! Take your clothes off! Hurry up, let's go, go, go! Shorts on! Here's your shirt! Get some socks! Here's your shoe! Here's your other shoe! Don't undo them all the way! C'mon, c'mon, you can do it, almost there...!" and so on. But, hallelujah, we made it with two minutes to spare! I call that a victory.

I came home, checked email, chatted online with a friend for a bit, and then lay back down to snooze for an hour until I had to get Jack ready. Well, I overslept again and this time had just ten minutes to spare before his bus arrived. And he was still in his jammies! Normally he jumps right up and dresses himself, but not so this a.m. So I had to do the whole marathon coach thing again, shouting up at him, "Your bus is here, your bu is here, get your pants on, let's go, buddy!" etc. At least this child had breakfast, since no one wrapped up the leftover strawberry biscuits and he'd eaten four of them! Rotten mommy, I know I am.  Thankfully, they both had a decent lunch, since I had time to pack him one and she buys at school.

I got Sophia dressed shortly after that and jumped into the shower, so I could go visit my nemesis Dr. Pal, aka my prescribing shrink. He tops my list of Medical Types Not to Love. He's just so... cranky! For no reason. It's not necessary. Sophia is a lovely, charming, ingratiating child, but he always glowers miserably whenever I walk in with her. Jerk. But then she starts chatting away while he's writing out my scripts (my visits invariably last less than ten minutes and go like this: "How are you doing on your meds?" "Fine, I feel good." "Good, here's your prescriptions, see you in X weeks") and he softens considerably. Finally today he acknowledged her by saying, "She talks a lot." Which, I think, was a compliment to her verbal abilities. In any case, I'm going to take it that way.

I've been seeing him a little more frequently lately because of the allergies. We have narrowed down another suspect: Trileptal. It's now eliminated from my medicine diet because, having gone off it, I'm taking far less Benadryl and having fewer reactions than before. So right now the Big Baddies are: Trileptal, Anceph, Percocet, chlorine, manmade fibers, and apples. Who knows to what else I will fall prey? Hopefully not strawberries, but either way, I'll no sooner give them up than I will my beloved pool time!

Anyway. So he's a jerk, but I can handle him for less than 10 minutes a month, right? At least he makes me laugh and not cry, with his crotchety self.

It's two weeks tomorrow since I got my nails done, and I definitely turned out to have fast-growing nails. Who knew? They break so easily. So, Sophia and I went to the nails shop for a fill, and OH. MY. LORD was I IN PAIN. She kept burning my nails with the motorized file thingy, and I kept having to jerk my hands away. This was a different nail tech than the first one, who was very careful not to hurt me. And oh! I can not stand all the filing and buffing and filing and buffing that it takes. I'm very sensitive to filing anyway, so getting my nails done is like pure torture for me. I very nearly gave up all the national secrets I knew, but she couldn't break me.

We ran next door to Farm Fresh to get the grocery ad, and then we went next door the other way to Subway for lunch. Sophie saw the marquee and wouldn't stop pestering me about it, and right now I am a pushover when it comes to a tuna sammy. But in the end, she refused to eat, having only one bite of sammy and maybe four chips, wanting instead to go home and have some juice. Uh. So we did just that.

I was going to go upstairs and tackle the laundry, but we had less than an hour left by that point before Jack's bus would come, and I didn't feel like going up and down, up and down. I was so tired, after all. So we watched a little PBS Kids while I completed the two edgings on the blanket to end all blankets.

The boy came home and wanted to finish watching Super Why! with his sister (they love, love, love that show). I agreed and told them it would be nap time when Chloë arrived, which appeased them. I kept my word, and as soon as they were all in their rooms, I finally collapsed under my loverly blanket for an hour. The dog wiggling around in her kennel woke me right up after that, and surprisingly, I wasn't tired any longer.

Good thing. We still didn't have any food in the house, and that's my job to rectify. I got out my previously-fetched grocery ad and wrote down all the sale items that we use on my list, then retrieved the Sunday paper to scour for coupons. I found a lot of good ones and saved nearly $40 this trip, 11% of my total. We were darn near out of everything except meat, which we rarely eat nowadays except when I go to the fishmonger at the Farmer's Market for seafood.  I shopped for an hour and a half; my cart was full before I even finished getting half of my list. For the first time ever, I tipped the bagboy who loaded up the van (hurts my back to do it) because it was so much. But the cashier forgot to give me my 5-cents-per-bag discount for bringing in my own. Grr. It annoys me that the policy isn't better known among the cashiers and isn't advertised to customers at all. Come on! That would bring more people like me into the store!

I'm starting to ramble, aren't I? I know some of you are saying, "Isn't that what all your posts are?" Yeah, it's true, I'm a babbler. And yet you stay!

We had dinner plans (by that I mean, I had picked out what Rob was to make), but the kids just kind of ended up eating as we unloaded and put away the food: some baby carrots (shared with the bunny), some Italian bread (still as delish as yesterday's), milk, Tic-Tacs. So they went to bed when they'd had their fill, and then we cooked our crab-stuffed whitefish pinwheels. They were good. Not as good as fishmonger food, but I'd had them in the freezer for a few months and wanted to get rid of them.

So do you want to know about our plan?

We've talked about this many times over the past 7.5 years of our life together, but tonight we really started being serious. Rob retires in five years. After that, we may just sell off a bunch of our stuff, put the rest in storage, and buy a boat on which to live. We'll travel around, bipping around the country, the Caribbean, go through The Canal, see where we go... and homeschool the kids as needed. I like to call it "worldschooling" them, because they'll gain such an education from traveling and meeting different cultures. Once our European cruise is over, I'm going to start putting us on a tight budget, so we can pay off our ever-accumulating credit card debt, start building a retirement fund, and see what it's going to cost us to live on this boat. I'm excited about it, and I know Rob is. It's his dream!  Sound fun?

Of course, there better be room for my yarn...

Fin.

Welcome Back, Hurricane Season!

At home last night, Jack came downstairs and went to sleep inside the cat scratching post tunnel thingy! So funny.

We were up late last night, so we slept late this morning. It still wasn't enough, and I was bleary-eyed for quite a while. Let me tell you, blear looks really hot on fat people.

I made my way downstairs where Rob was feeding the kids, and set to work sewing the panels of my stripey blanket together. I got about halfway through the first seam when I remembered Rob needed to finish his LensCrafter's shop for his new eyeglasses, ie, pick them up so I could do the pick-up section of the report. And there was no food in the house and he'd be right nearby, so I wanted him to go to Panera, too. Yum, yum.

Shortly after he left, Stephanie called me to say she and Tim were on their way over for our Day O' Fun. Rut-ro, Raggy! I was still in a nightgown, Rob was out, and the kids were in various states of undress. But we quickly got our bathing suits on, just in time for Stim (their name together, see) to come a-knockin'.

I kept on seaming my blanket while we waited for Rob, and then I gobbled down my brunch while he got ready for the pool. Mmm, mmm, Panera. Good stuff, man. We shared some cookies with Stim and the kids, and then scrambled to get our pool necessities together. You can't just go to a pool these days. Of course, there must be towels - five. Then there must be "some scream," no matter what time of day or how short or long your visit. And most importantly, there have to be pool toys for each child. We ended up bringing all the blow-up toy prizes from our night at Motor World last weekend.

The pool water was frrrreeeeeeeezing. Rob barely made it into the pool at all. No meat on his bones. The rest of us managed to acclimate just fine. We didn't have any water wings (must put those on the shopping list), so Chloë clung steadfastly to the wall as she played with Stim and her school friends. Jack and Sophie were in and out, in and out, cold and hot, up and down. Little monkeys, they are. It was a good time. The adult swims were very much welcome, as the neighborhood kids were there in abundance and got quite rambunctious. Can't tell you how many times I was pushed and shoved with a baby in my arms. Don't like that. Not a bit.

After a while, we left and came back to our house, where everyone changed and showered and dressed. Oh. Ask me what's the worst that could happen? I'll tell you: Being allergic to the pool, my oasis in the summer months. But not just allergic. Full-body-welt highly allergic.  The hives were huge and angry, and my face swelled up, and it was all very uncomfortable and unattractive. Once in the house, I chugged some four or five Benadryls and waited for the ugliness to depart. The ugliness caused by chlorine, anyhow. It took a while, but I'm back to "normal" now. I use that term loosely.

Then Steph and I took Jack to the grocery store for some dinner needs: Dog food for Lily's sup, and sangria, green beans, linguine, strawberries and Italian bread for ours. Jack picked out a new car (I'd promised him a few days ago for something), and I picked up some Cottonelle wipes four our tushies. I love those things. No more TP for me!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Rob was peeling and cooking up some shrimp scampi to go atop our linguini. Linguine or linguini? I'm too lazy to go look at the box right now. When we arrived, he set to work boiling water for the pasta while I sliced up the strawberries for our dessert. Those things were almost as big as my hand, look:

Ginormalous!

The kids (and Rob) kept buggering me for some berries, but I threatened them with my knife and kept the thieves at bay. (Not really, put down the phone.)

Then I remembered I didn't have any whipping cream for the strawberry shortcake, so Stim took Sophie back to the store for some heavy cream and, oh, yeah, can you pick up some more Bisquick too?

Dinner was excellent, and we all ate our fill.  Even the kids did pretty well with no complaining, other than Jack repeatedly tell us he didn't want his shrimp even though no one was making him. I should have bought more than one loaf of the bread, though; it was awesome. I had two glasses of wine and got quite inebriated, and Stephanie soon joined me so we could be silly together. And we were. I said a lot of dumb stuff and giggled at myself. 

We went back to the living room to rest our bellies and let the kids play while I tried to show Steph briefly how to crochet. She did a stitch or two and looks like she's going to be an easy student, so we'll have to sit down together soon and do it fo' real. I had finished seaming up the second seam earlier and was working on the edging of my stripey blanket. We were also running back and forth, Steph and I, to the kitchen so I could show her how I make the biscuits (big tongue stuck out to Stephanie-Canada!). It was a lot of back and forth. I got a little dizzy. Remember, I was drunk. (Hey, let's call a spade a spade. I wanted to say 'a worm a worm' just there. I don't know why.)

Um, so, what else...

The shortcake (biscuits :P) were finished, finally, so everyone regrouped in the kitchen to down some strawberries. It wasn't our usual shortcake: I'd added more sugar to the biscuits than usual, and I didn't have milk so I used some of the heavy cream in them. And Rob whipped the cream and some sugar together instead of using the canned stuff. It was so-o-o good. We all scarfed it down pretty well. I never get tired of strawberries. Maybe I should think of some new things to do with them? I don't know, if it ain't broke...

Rob made Tim give Jack his growth hormone shot after that, so he'll be able to do it while we're in Europe. It went as well as expected. Jacky cried, and it's sad, so I showed Steph how much he's grown since taking the shots for the past almost-two years, versus no growth over the previous two. They'll be fine. I'm sure of it.

Drunken self-portrait of Stephanie

Rob and Tim, overjoyed about sticking little boys butt's with sharp needles

Stim left shortly after that, and the kids went to bed, so I finished up my single crochet edging. I have two more rounds of single crochet to do, and all those ends to sew in, but for the most part, it'd finished! Yippee! I've only been at it for a few months, off and on of course. It's cotton and really heavy. I'm loving the colors together. Steph really liked it, too, and she called it funky. I think. Now she wants one. A day after I told Rob I was never going to make another one of those again (it was my third). Haha! But of course I will, if she wants.

I fell asleep under my new allergy-free blanket right after that, from the effects of the pool and too much good food and fun times with our friends. Very comfy. I love it!

Fin.

Brother From Another Mother

We all slept in really late today after our adventures last night. Really late. Like, no longer AM.

When I woke up, I was definitely sick. Right eye matted shut, sore throat, earache, headache... the whole bit. We were supposed to go to the Pungo Strawberry Festival today, but I didn't think I was going to be going anywhere at all. I felt bad. But, we've been here five years and keep wanting to go, but something has kept us from going. This, our last year, had to be it.

So I took a shower. A shower always makes you feel better, right? Well, it didn't, much, but I was game to go anyway. I did a little laundry, got dressed, and made my way downstairs where the rest of the family was eating breakfast. Rob showered, and off we went to the grocery store to get some sunscreen and dolladeros for the festival.

On the way there, Sophie asked where we were going. Rob told her, "We're going to the Strawberry Festival!" And she said, "Mmmmm... I LOOOOOOVE blueberry pie!" <insert laughing guy here>

We also decided that we weren't going to eat anything that didn't contain strawberries. Well, that proved to be tougher than we thought. The website specifies there are strawberries served 50 different ways? We found two: strawberry shortcake and daiquiris. Of course, we ate some shortcake right away, and, I gotta say, the Bisquick biscuits are hella better. I'm stickin' with those.

The festival was set up along a main drag, so the traffic was shut down going in and out of the area for fest goers. Well, it was over at 1900, and they let traffic get back in the very same minute! Right away! They didn't even give people a few minutes to clear out of there and walk the mile or so back to their cars. Kinda dangerous, if you ask moi. But you didn't.

A few highlights of our day, in pictures:

The children running around in the field of buttercups where we were parked. Of course, I received a bouquet or two.

 

The kids have never had their faces painted before, so that was one of the first things we let them do. I wonder if Jack was checking out this woman's, um, *ahem* decolletage... oh, and I know that's not his face. They all chose to do it on their arm instead. Whatever!

 

Chloë chose an angel,